Joe Johnson (snooker player)

Joe Johnson
birthday	29th July 1952 (age 68)
place of birth	Bradford
nationality	England
Nickname (s)	The Shoe
professional	1979 - 2004
Prize money	£ 775,759
Highest break	141 ( WM 1992, Q )
Century Breaks	49
Main tour successes
World championships	1
Ranking tournament victories	1
World rankings
Highest WRL place	5 ( 1987/88 )

Joe Johnson (born July 29, 1952 in Bradford , West Yorkshire , England ) is a retired English snooker player who played on the professional tour from 1979 to 2004. His greatest achievement was the surprise win of the 1986 World Snooker Championship , which was also his only win in a ranking tournament. Johnson's results had been mediocre up until then, and he had few other successes even after his world title. At the beginning of the 1990s he fell out of the top of the world. In spite of health problems, he remained a professional player until 2004 and subsequently became particularly involved in youth development and senior snooker. In 2013 he was inducted into the Snooker Hall of Fame .

Personal

Johnson was born in Bradford in 1952 and grew up there. His biological father was of Pakistani descent, but Johnson was adopted as a child. According to the book Snooker's World Champions: Masters of the Baize, Johnson learned the game of snooker from his adoptive father. However, according to Johnson himself, his grandfather taught him to play snooker.

During his free time, Johnson sang in his band Made in Japan from Preston . Over the years, when success as a snooker player failed to materialize, the band became more and more important to him. As interest in Johnson grew, the BBC recorded an appearance by the band at Johnson's then snooker club, the Morley Snooker Center . The Morley Snooker Center belonged to a friend of Johnson's who offered to use his club as a training facility. This and the management contract with Wally Springett stabilized his career. Johnson later moved to the management company Framework Management , which also included snooker player Tony Knowles .

During his career, Johnson had the nickname The Shoe , which alluded to his unconventional shoes: he had attracted attention during the 1986 World Snooker Championship with pink shoes combined with a gray suit. The journalist Hector Nunns also describes Johnson as a person without airs and as a person who loves life. Johnson is a father of six and a grandfather of eleven (as of 2017).

Career

Beginnings as an amateur

As a teenager, Johnson won the Yorkshire Snooker Championship three times as well as the national U19 championship. That made him one of the leading amateur players of his time. That's why he represented England a total of ten times at the Home International Championship , an international team competition at amateur level. In 1977 he reached the semifinals of the northern qualifying competition of the English Amateur Championship , which he lost to Sid Hood . After an unsuccessful participation in the Pontins Spring Open , he qualified for the final of the English Amateur Championship the next year with an 8: 4 win over Ian Williamson . In this he was defeated by Terry Griffiths from Welsh with 5:13 .

In the same year Johnson first took part in the World Amateur Championship . Despite two defeats, he survived the group stage and reached the final. There he had to admit defeat to Cliff Wilson 5:11. A short time later he achieved the highest break for an amateur player at the time with a 140 break . The next year, however, he only made it to the qualifying semifinals in the English Amateur Championship.

During his time as an amateur player, Johnson worked as an apprentice locksmith , pipe fitter and gas fitter, among other things . In 1979 he finally became a professional player.

First professional years

Johnson's first professional season was the 1979/80 season , which was marked by early defeats. A round of 16 participation at the Canadian Open was his best result. Since this tournament was not a world ranking tournament, it did not make it to place on the snooker world ranking list. The next two seasons 1980/81 and 1981/82 went a little better in general, he reached the quarter-finals of the English Professional Championship in 1981 and the round of 16 of the UK Championship in 1981 . But he again missed the entry into the main round of the snooker world championship , which was the only ranked tournament at the time. So Johnson was still unset after three professional seasons.

Also in the 1982/83 season he was often eliminated early, but at the Professional Players Tournament he reached the quarter-finals. Since the tournament was one of the world ranking tournaments newly introduced this season, he entered the world ranking list on rank 23.

In the course of the 1983/84 season his successes remained moderate. He came to the finals of the World Cup for the first time , but was eliminated by a 1:10 against Dennis Taylor in the first round. The exception was again the Professional Players Tournament : For the first time in his professional career he reached a final there. In this he lost 8: 9 to Tony Knowles , but this success improved him to 19th place in the world rankings.

During the 1984/85 season Johnson reached a round of 16 several times. In an invitation tournament, he had to admit defeat only in the semi-finals, as well as in the Classic ranking tournament . It was his first win in a professional game in front of TV cameras. Having never succeeded in doing this before, Johnson had a reputation for not being able to perform convincingly in front of TV cameras. In the world rankings he improved to 16th place at the end of the season. As a result, he was then qualified for the first time directly for the main World Cup and also for the Masters .

In the mid-1980s, Johnson was placed at the top of the world rankings

Success at the 1986 World Cup

During the 1985/86 season Johnson reached at least the round of 32 in all tournaments; he often got beyond this. So he reached the quarter-finals in four tournaments by mid-April alone. Before the World Snooker Championship Johnson was the bookmakers of Coral than 150: 1 out outsider, partly because he had never won in the main round of the World Cup a match. This time, however, he managed to win against Dave Martin . He was then able to defeat two top players in the world, Mike Hallett and Terry Griffiths . With another win over Tony Knowles he finally reached the final and met Steve Davis there . At this point he was already a three-time world champion, but had just lost to Dennis Taylor in the same place last year . Johnson was able to bring the final under his control on the second day and won the world title with 18:12. His World Cup success was largely taken with surprise. At the same time, his popularity rose: he, the underdog, had defeated Steve Davis, the dominant player of the 1980s. The media were also interested in him because of his unusual career and his life at the time. Occasionally, his World Cup win was recognized as a happy event for his hometown of Bradford: Just a year earlier, 56 people had died in a fire in a football stadium in Bradford during the Valley Parade fire disaster . Johnson himself celebrated his World Cup success, according to Dean P. Hayes, "with a pint of lager with his friends at the Morley Snooker Center". With his world title, he jumped to 8th place in the world rankings.

As world champion, Johnson was invited to numerous invitation tournaments in the following 1986/87 season . In these he was usually eliminated early: His best results were the quarter-finals at the Masters and the semi-finals at the Australian Masters . That being said, he rarely got past the round of 32: by mid-April he only managed to do this twice. At the Snooker World Championship, however, the defending champion increased his form and defeated Stephen Hendry and Neal Foulds , among others . He reached the final again. But he did not succeed in breaking the so-called " Curse of the Crucible ", and he lost to Steve Davis at 14:18. On the world rankings Johnson was able to improve to 5th place. It was the highest rank he achieved in his career.

Farewell to the top of the world

As in the 1986/87 season, Johnson took part in several invitation tournaments during the 1987/88 season. This time he reached two finals, even if he was only victorious at the Scottish Masters . In two other tournaments without world ranking influence he also reached the semifinals. On the other hand, he had little success in ranking tournaments. After all, he made it to the semi-finals of the UK Championship , but lost there to Jimmy White . On the world rankings, he slipped to 11th place.

In the 1988/89 season he had less success at the invitation tournaments than in the previous year. Two quarterfinals in ranking tournaments enabled him to keep his 11th place. The next two seasons, however, were marked by early defeats, especially in the ranking tournaments; only one quarterfinals he succeeded during this time. He was a little luckier at the invitation tournaments and won the Norwich Union Grand Prix in 1989 . However, this had no impact on the world rankings, where he dropped out of the top 16 and only ranked 26th in 1991.

The following seasons were even worse. Initially, he reached several round of 16 and twice a quarter-finals, which allowed him to stay in the top 32 of the world rankings. In 1992 he even reached the final of the European Challenge 1992 , which was only an invitation tournament. In the following seasons he again won very few games. The low point was the 1993/94 season with a single win. Although he won a little more matches afterwards, he was mostly eliminated early. He reached the second round twice until 1997, and in 1997 he also won the Seniors Pot Black invitation tournament . On the world rankings, his failures led to a significant deterioration and he leveled off in the rankings around 50th place.

End of career and further life

At the end of the 1990s, Johnson only had a single-digit number of wins per season. He reached a round of the last 32 three times, but in the 1999/2000 season he never got past the round of the last 64. In the world rankings he fell continuously and was only 61st in the year 2000. In the years 2001 to 2003 he only reached a round of the last 64 once per season and was less likely to win his first match in a tournament survive. In the 2003/04 season Johnson could not win a single win because of a broken ankle . He ended the season with a clear 10-10 defeat against Ian Preece in World Cup qualification and slipped to 126th place from 127 possible places. Thus he lost his professional status after 25 seasons. At the time, at 53, he was the oldest player on the professional tour. After Johnson's retirement, this was Steve Davis , who remained a professional until 2016.

As of 2010, Johnson participated regularly in the World Seniors Championship and also helped promote the tournament in 2010. However, he couldn't win a single match there. He also played in other senior tournaments. It is worth mentioning the Seniors Masters 2019 , which Johnson won with a 2-1 win over Barry Pinches .

Johnson is also primarily involved in promoting young talent. Among other things, he was - according to his own statements - mentor of the English player Paul Hunter for eight years . He was also an official of the WPBSA world association for a short time . Johnson also works as a TV commentator for Eurosport . In 2010 he owned two snooker clubs in West Yorkshire and three training academies. In 2013 he was inducted into the Snooker Hall of Fame .

Style of play

Johnson, who developed most of his game himself, is in the eyes of Luke Williams and Paul Gadsby, authors of Snooker's World Champions: Masters of the Baize , a “talented breakbuilder” and an excellent long ball player. In Johnson's attacking style and his long balls, they see harbingers of the tactical game that shaped the 1990s and the following years. Williams and Gadsby compare Johnson with Terry Griffiths and Dennis Taylor , who also surprisingly won the snooker world championship once, but in contrast to Johnson were able to stay in the top of the world for longer.

The snooker writer Chris Turner rates Johnson as a player whose results mostly did not match his talent. He had a great success with the world title, but that did not give him a more stable form. One reason for this was Johnson's numerous participation in charity events and exhibitions, with which he wanted to give something back to his supporters. Furthermore, from the late 1980s onwards, he began to develop heart and eye problems. When playing, he had to wear glasses that he couldn't handle right away. His health continued to give him problems even after the end of his career: up to 2017, he suffered seven heart attacks, had a fourfold coronary artery bypass and had eye problems, as a result of which he had visual problems at least temporarily.

Six-time world champion Steve Davis described Johnson in an interview in 2019 as "the most impressive puzzle in snooker" and as a "great player" who was "a great talent who never reached his full potential." Also in the book The Crucible's Greatest Matches by the English snooker journalist Hector Nunns, Davis speaks of a very talented Johnson who plays below his potential. Davis suspected that Johnson was not focusing enough on his game and being too active in other areas. However, he praises Johnson's handling of the back spin, his skills in English billiards and his handling of the balls. He concludes that "there was some class [in Johnson's way of playing]." Hector Nunns himself is of the opinion that Johnson “deep down” knew that he “could play a little”, which Nunns rated as a “down-to-earth and pragmatic approach” that could have been helpful to him in the 1986 World Cup final. Dean P. Hayes, however, honored Johnson in 2004 as an "excellent player".

Successes (selection)

output	year	competition	Final opponent	Result
Amateur tournaments
winner	1978	English Amateur Championship - North	Ian Williamson	8: 4
Second	1978	English Amateur Championship	Terry Griffiths	5:13
Second	1978	IBSF World Snooker Championship	Cliff Wilson	5:11
winner	2019	Seniors Masters	Barry Pinches	2: 1
Professional tournaments
Second	1983	Professional Players Tournament	Tony Knowles	8: 9
winner	1986	World Snooker Championship	Steve Davis	18:12
Second	1987	World Snooker Championship	Steve Davis	14:18
winner	1987	Scottish Masters	Terry Griffiths	9: 7
Second	1987	Carling Challenge	Dennis Taylor	5: 8
Second	1989	New Zealand Masters	Willie Thorne	4: 7
winner	1989	Norwich Union Grand Prix	Stephen Hendry	5: 3
Second	1992	European Challenge	Stephen Hendry	0: 4
winner	1997	Seniors Pot Black	Terry Griffiths	2-0

literature

• Dean P. Hayes: Snooker Legends - And Where Are They Now? 3. Edition. Sutton Publishing, Chalford 2004, ISBN 978-0-7509-3233-2 , pp. 45-47 .
• Luke Williams, Paul Gadsby: Snooker's World Champions: Masters of the Baize . Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh 2012, ISBN 978-1-78057-715-9 , Chapter 13: Joe Johnson: Ordinary Joe ( limited preview in Google Book Search - according to Google Books without page numbers).
• Hector Nunns: The Crucible's Greatest Matches - Forty Years of Snooker's World Championship in Sheffield . Pitch Publishing, Worthing 2017, ISBN 978-1-78531-284-7 , Chapter 7: Joe Johnson v Steve Davis, 1986, final, pp. 79-88 .

Web links

• Profile of Joe Johnson on CueTracker
• Joe Johnson (snooker player) in the Snooker Database (English)
• Profile of Joe Johnson on snooker.org

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Jo Carter: Where Are They Now? - Joe Johnson: The man who stunned the Crucible. ESPN , April 15, 2010, accessed March 3, 2020 .  
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Ron Florax: Career Total Statistics For Joe Johnson - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 1, 2020 .  
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n} Ron Florax: Ranking History For Joe Johnson. CueTracker.net, accessed March 1, 2020 .  
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Luke Williams, Paul Gadsby: Snooker's World Champions: Masters of the Baize . Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh 2012, ISBN 978-1-78057-715-9 , Chapter 13: Joe Johnson: Ordinary Joe ( limited preview in Google Book Search - according to Google Books without page numbers).
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Mike Amos: Darlington snooker fans queue up to play former world champion Joe Johnson ... now he's blind in one eye. The Northern Echo , July 20, 2017, accessed March 3, 2020 .  
6. ^ Steven Pye: How a 150-1 outsider won the 1986 World Snooker Championship. The Guardian , April 17, 2013, accessed March 3, 2020 .  
7. ^ ^{A b c} Hector Nunns: The Crucible's Greatest Matches - Forty Years of Snooker's World Championship in Sheffield . Pitch Publishing, Worthing 2017, ISBN 978-1-78531-284-7 , pp. 80 f .
8. ^ Clive Everton: Black Farce and Cue Ball Wizards: The Inside Story of the Snooker World . Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh 2007, ISBN 978-1-84596-199-2 , Chapter 13: Kruger: The Fizz Goes Flat ( limited preview in Google Book Search - according to Google Books without page numbers).
9. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Chris Turner: Player Profile: Joe Johnson. (No longer available online.) Chris Turner's Snooker Archive, 2009, archived from the original on November 1, 2011 ; accessed on March 3, 2020 (English).  
10. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1976-1977 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 1, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1977-1978 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 1, 2020 .  
     
11. ^ ^{A b} Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1978-1979 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 1, 2020 .  
12. ↑ ^{a b c} Joe Johnson. In: wst.tv. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , accessed March 3, 2020 .  
13. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1979-1980 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 .  
14. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1980-1981 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1981-1982 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 .  
     
15. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1982-1983 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed February 3, 2020 .  
16. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1983-1984 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 .  
17. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1984-1985 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 .  
18. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1985-1986 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 .  
19. ↑ ^{a b c} Dean P. Hayes: Snooker Legends - And Where Are They Now? 3. Edition. Sutton Publishing, Chalford 2004, ISBN 978-0-7509-3233-2 , pp. 45-47 .
20. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1986-1987 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 .  
21. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1987-1988 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 .  
22. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1988-1989 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1988-1989 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 .  
     
23. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1989-1990 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1990-1991 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 .  
     
24. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1991-1992 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1992-1993 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 .  
     
25. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1993-1994 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1994-1995 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 2, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1995-1996 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1996-1997 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 .  
     
     
     
26. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1997-1998 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1998-1999 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 .  
     
27. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 1999-2000 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 .  
28. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 2000-2001 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 2001-2002 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 2002-2003 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 .  
     
     
29. ↑ ^{a b} Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 2003-2004 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 .  
30. ^ David Caulfield: Joe Johnson Wins World Seniors Masters. SnookerHQ, April 12, 2019, accessed March 3, 2020 .  
31. ↑ Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 2010-2011 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 2011-2012 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 2012-2013 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 2013-2014 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 2014-2015 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 2015-2016 - Professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 . Ron Florax: Joe Johnson - Season 2019-2020 - Non-professional Results. CueTracker.net, accessed March 3, 2020 .  
     
     
     
     
     
     
32. ↑ Hermund Årdalen: Seniors Masters (11 Apr 2019). snooker.org, accessed March 3, 2020 .  
33. ↑ Weekend interview: Crucible crying out for new local hero to emerge, says former champion Joe Johnson. The Yorkshire Post , April 16, 2016, accessed March 3, 2020 .  
34. ↑ World Snooker Awards: Mark Selby is Player of the Year. SnookerPRO, May 10, 2013, accessed March 3, 2020 .  
35. ^ Rowan Newman: Steve Davis recalls his shock defeat to Bradford star Joe Johnson. Telegraph & Argus , October 27, 2019, accessed March 3, 2020 .  
36. ^ Hector Nunns: The Crucible's Greatest Matches - Forty Years of Snooker's World Championship in Sheffield . Pitch Publishing, Worthing 2017, ISBN 978-1-78531-284-7 , pp. 82 f .

This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on August 22, 2020 in this version .